Sourdough Starter

I've been in Utah too long. I have officially attempted making a sourdough starter from scratch. It takes 5 days, and you have to stir it 3x/day. And everyone thought I was crazy for having 2 dogs...
Anyway, after 5 days of stirring and checking on my bowl of flour/water, I was so excited to make my very own sourdough bread (after all, I have been spoiled by San Francisco). I added all the ingredients to my bread machine (why knead, let rise, and shape to bake, when you can have a machine do it for you?), added the rapid rise yeast, and put the bread machine on the rapid cycle (waiting is for people with time... I already did 5 days of waiting). Well, about 2 hours and 15 minutes later, my timer beeps. I'm so excited because it means my bread is ready!! And it smells SO good. I take it out of the bread machine, and put it on a cutting board. I waited about 10-15 minutes to finish cooking and let the bread cool down a little, and I made my move. I cut into the bread, and oh my God, what is that smell?? I take a little nibble out of the inside and YUCK!!! That is the sourest sourdough I think anyone has ever made. What did I do wrong??? I go back and read the directions again. Yep, added everything I was supposed to, stirred the starter 3x/day, and let it sit for 5 days. So what the heck?
Well, luckily this is the 21st century, so I hop on my computer and look up sourdough starters. After reading a few different methods to let the yeast ferment to create the sourdough flavor, I find that sometimes, depending on the area, it can take between 2-5 days. And the longer it sits, the more sour the bread will be. So.... I guess that means my bread was WAY too sour because it fermented way too long. Great. I wasted about 6 cups of flour, which I could have used to make 1 1/2 more loaves of bread that I actually have successfully made via bread machine, but... no. Instead, it is sitting in my garbage and down my garbage disposal. Terrific!
Thankfully, if your starter is too sour (AKA you have NO idea what you're doing and let it sit too long, like me) you can take one cup of your existing starter, and start a new one. Although, this time, I plan on just using my bread machine to knead the dough (yes, it has a dough cycle, and a jam cycle... and pretty much every other cycle you can think of!! AMAZING, I KNOW!!), and I will bake it in my oven. The recipe I found on the Internet was much easier, and is a little more... well, friendly for the baking-challenged like me. Hence why we got the bread machine to begin with. I can cook anything, but baking? No way. And apparently, that has not changed.
More to come in a few days on how my new sourdough starter/bread turns out...